Haryana: Bus set on fire as protest outside Manesar factory turns violent

GURUGRAM: A protest by a group of workers of an automobile component manufacturing company in Manesar turned violent on Tuesday after police intervened. The workers pelted the company’s buses with stones and set one of the vehicles on fire.
By late evening, 124 employees of JNS Instruments Ltd had been arrested. They included about 70 women.
The workers, sources said, had been protesting outside the company’s gate for the past few months after nine women were transferred to a unit in Bhiwadi following calls for a union in the factory. A few days ago, the district administration had even imposed Section 144 CrPC, which bars the assembly of more than five persons.
Around 5.45am on Tuesday, a group of workers staged a sit-in outside the gate and stopped employees from entering the premises for the morning shift. The company management then lodged a written complaint with the police.
The company, in its complaint, claimed it had transferred the nine women to its Bhiwadi unit in November last year after giving them a promotion and a salary hike. Of the nine women, five joined work at the Bhiwadi factory while the four others lodged a complaint with the labour department against the order.
A protest by a group of workers supporting the four women ensued. According to the company, a local court had on December 24 directed the protesters to maintain a distance of 1,000 metres from the premises.
On Tuesday morning, a team from the Manesar police station reached the company after getting the written complaint and detained some of the workers for rioting and under other provisions of the IPC. This enraged them further.
Around 5.30pm, when the company’s buses had come to drop the employees home, the protesters hurled stones at them and set one of the vehicles on fire. A separate FIR was lodged and 124 workers were arrested.
Manbir Singh, the Manesar DCP, said the protesters had violated the court order and taken law in their hands. “Maintaining law and order is our priority,” the DCP said, adding that additional force had been deployed in the area to avoid any untoward incident.
Sources said the protest, which began with the transfer order in November last year, had assumed a political colour after the workers began demanding a union in the factory. On Tuesday too, the protesters were backed by union members from other companies.
“There were calls for a labour union in the company. Some of those who were transferred to Bhiwadi were making the demands for the union. Those who refused to accept the transfer order were suspended. That’s how the protest scaled, Slowly, many workers started joining the agitation,” said Ajit, the general secretary of a union in another factory.
Pawan Yadav, president of the IMT Manesar Industrial Association, said violent protests like these often had a negative impact on investment prospects. “We are against any kind of violence and damage to property. Such incidents, obviously, have a negative impact on investor sentiments,” said Yadav.
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